Anthony Ramos, star of Lin-Manuel Miranda’ movie adaptation of Miranda’s musical In the Heights, has been cast in a very important, yet very secret role in the Ironheart TV series. What’s more interesting is that whoever he’s playing, he’s supposed to have a very important role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe going forward.
Deadline broke the news, but that’s literally all of it: “While details behind Ramos’ role [in Ironheart] are unknown, sources say it will be similar to how Jonathan Majors was introduced as Kang the Conquer in Loki, where he is expected to not only have a big role in this series but in future Marvel projects as well.”
So who is Ramos — who’s also in the next Transformers movie, by the way — playing? Your guess is likely at least as good as mine, but the fact he’s debuting in Ironheart is presumably relevant. The show is about a young genius named Riri Williams (played by Dominique Thorne) who gets inspired by Tony Stark/Iron Man to build her own suit of armour. (The character is set to debut in the beleaguered Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.) Now, Ironheart doesn’t have the widest cast of characters, but the super-team she’s probably most tethered to is the Champions, a group of teenage superheroes that includes future MCU TV star Ms. Marvel.
Another major Champion is Nova, aka Sam Anderson, a half-Hispanic member of the Nova Corps (whose members are basically space cops, and Marvel’s version of Green Lanterns). Fans have been expecting the character to show up pretty much constantly since the Nova Corps debuted in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie; with the current incarnation of the group soon coming to the end, it makes sense that Marvel Studios would want a few more cosmic characters in back-up.
Another possibility is Robbie Reyes, who’s currently Ghost Rider and in the Avengers… but it seems unlikely that he’d be crossing paths with Ironheart. Another option is for Ramos to play another character entirely, which leaves the door wide open for a multitude of heroes and villains. Here’s a guess out of field: what about Blackheart? The demon has never had a human form in the comics, but that’s rather easily adjusted. And Riri has fallen under his spell before.
We’ll know eventually, but go ahead and make your guesses in the comments. Ironheart won’t start shooting until April, so it’s likely the show will premiere either late this year or earlier 2023.